What is a conflict diamond?
Conflict diamonds are rough and uncut stones used by rebel movements (or their allies) to finance armed conflict that targets the undermining of legitimate governments. Rebel groups have been funding their war against legitimate governments in this way for many years. At Vered Mor, we pride ourselves on the fact that we truly do not use any conflict diamonds and prove so by providing traceable paperwork for every stone we sell.
Conflict-free diamonds are guaranteed not to be obtained through the use of violence, human rights abuses, child labor, or environmental destruction. These diamonds are individually tracked through their full chain of custody to ensure that ethical practices are used in mining, cutting, and polishing.
Conflict diamonds are often described by the United Nations definition as diamonds "that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the UN Security Council". The U.N. sponsored Kimberley Process addresses only this narrow definition of conflict diamonds (i.e., they do not include governments or government forces that trade in diamonds to finance their conflicts).
Vered Mor conflict-free diamonds address more than the U.N. definition and are free of all violence and human rights abuses, whether state-sanctioned or directed against a government. In addition, conflict-free diamonds are mined in an environmentally responsible fashion. Conflict-free diamonds must be independently tracked to their country and individual mine of origin. Almost all conflict-free diamonds today originate in Canada, and are verifiable through an independent auditing system, such as the Canadian Diamond Code of Conduct, Canadamark, or the Government of the Northwest Territories. Conflict-free diamonds may be mined in one country and cut in another.
Kimberly Process
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) is a process designed to certify the origin of rough diamonds from sources that are free of conflict. The process was established in 2003 to prevent rebel groups and their rivals from financing their war aims from diamond sales. The certification scheme aims at preventing these "blood diamonds" from entering the mainstream rough diamond market. It was set up to assure consumers that their purchase of diamonds were not financing wars or human rights abuses. Vered Mor guarantees with 100% confidence that all of our diamonds are conflict-free.
